Well, my Mom and Brad are on their way home to rainy Oklahoma. They had high hopes
for dry weather while they were here but our fine state decided to take a 3 day break from the drought and bring in a good ole' tropical depression with plenty of rain to make em' feel at home. It was a good trip. Mom and I sent the boys off golfing and did some hard core wedding maneuvering. On friday night we went to Madeira Beach to go on this evening casino cruise we thought the parental units would enjoy but alas the weather struck again and we ended up at a little seafood joint on the coast called Sculley's. This evening would have ended well with some ice cream, shopping and a stop at the Hard Rock but the waiter at Sculley's grabbed (yes grabbed) Kyle as he was on his way out (we were already outside) and demanded a tip as he thought we had not tipped him. Kyle felt awful and gave him a ten dollar bill which is what we had supposedly left at the table. As he is walking out Kyle thinks to himself - wait a minute! we did too leave a tip! I can't believe this guy!- he goes and finds the guy and has the guy look at the receipt and demands his ten dollars back. He told the guy he was unethical and just plain rude. Can you believe that? Following a customer and demanding a tip? I was shocked. Rude rude rude...I wouldnt want to take anyone's job but we did want to go back in and speak to the manager-but hind's sight is 20 20.
Saturday we headed to Anna Maria to scope out the Beachhouse so my Mom could see it and also to look at some vacation rentals for them. Well, not only did we do that but we got to witness worse case scenario weather at the beach while a wedding was getting set up at the restaurant, but we got to see how everything is laid out for a ceremony and reception. Mom and I scanned for good ideas (and boy did we ever get some great ones!!) in fact this wedding was so cute that we could just mimic the whole thing and change the colors! This girl had it all together!
Next we stumbled upon a perfect restaurant for the rehearsal dinner ( a popular seafood chain called Shell's. It was super cute and really nice - we booked immediately)
Next, we drove down to Longboat Key and went to Sarasota to order my cake and flowers!!
FUN FUN FUN FUN!!!!!! I can't even tell you how much fun it was to design the wedding bouquets and flowers for the cake (sigh) my wedding dreams are coming true!
Next we high tailed it back to the Beach house to see the whole thing set up (i.e. spy on the decor) and we ate dinner on the deck. It was so nice to see what a wedding looks like (we had seen one there once before but it was not in the same area as ours will be so this is a completely different picture)and get some ideas of what we do and do not want to do. After we ate we walked on the beach and managed to see the ceremony taking place just like ours will. (sigh sigh double sigh)
It was great and my Mom and I really got to do a lot together so we both feel like we haven't missed out with having it down here as opposed to at home. We checked off a long list of things to be done and then added a few more with our new found ideas. It worked out great and the excitement is really building.
Sunday we took them to our church and then the boys went golfing again with our friend James and they had an alligator encounter on the golf course which is always fun when there is someone with you from out of town. They had a good time and still have all their appendages so all is well. Mom and I shopped for a few more wedding items and a dress for her then we all collapsed exhausted from our crazy weekend.
Kyle and I took them to the airport at 4 this morning to catch an early flight. We are worn out but so happy to have gotten so much accomplished. I was so sad to see them go but we only have two weeks till Kyle's parents are here and then soon after my dad will be here for a week so we are pretty much too jam packed to be homesick.
Thanks for reading my ramble- Love you all!
Leslie
